Deadline register template for a purchase contract
A printable register with a worked example and blank rows, plus the weekly check that keeps each date owned.
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The register below covers one small business or land purchase contract: a row per date, a name in the Owner column, and what gets decided when the date arrives. A copy checked once a week shows the finished dates, the ones due in the next three weeks and the ones at risk. It prints from the browser. The tables also copy into a spreadsheet.
The guide How to build a deadline register for a purchase contract explains each column.
How to use it
- Fill in the deal facts at the top, from the signed contract.
- Read the contract once, only for dates, using the list of dates below. Cross out any the contract does not have, and add a line for any date it has that the list lacks.
- Write one row for each date, with the clause number beside it.
- Add internal dates a few business days ahead of the contract dates they protect.
- Put one owner's name on every row, and a backup.
- Send the register to everyone named in it.
- Run the weekly check until the money moves, then keep the register with the deal file.
Deal facts
| Item | Fill in |
|---|---|
| Deal name | |
| Buyer, and who signs for the buyer | |
| Seller, and who signs for the seller | |
| Contract effective date, and the clause that sets it | |
| How the contract counts days (quote the clause) | |
| How the contract defines a business day (quote the clause) | |
| Time of day and time zone for notices and deadlines | |
| How notices must be delivered, and to whom (clause) | |
| Buyer's attorney and phone | |
| Buyer's accountant and phone | |
| Lender contact and phone | |
| Closing agent (title company, escrow agent or closing attorney) | |
| Closing agent's main phone, where it came from and the date | |
| The buyer's bank's cutoff time for closing-day wire requests | |
| Who runs the weekly check, and when |
The wire callback before closing uses the closing agent's number from this table, so the table also records where the number came from and when. Numbers taken from an email thread do not go here.
Dates to look for in the contract
The list covers dates that turn up in small business and land purchase contracts.
- Contract effective date
- Earnest money deposit due
- Seller's delivery of documents for diligence
- Due diligence or inspection period ends
- Deadline to send objections or a termination notice
- Seller's time to cure an objection
- Financing commitment deadline
- Appraisal ordered and received
- Title commitment delivered
- Deadline for title objections
- Survey ordered and received
- Environmental report ordered and received (land and some business sites)
- Landlord consent to a lease assignment
- Transfer of licenses, permits or key contracts
- Lender's conditions to closing satisfied
- Final walkthrough or inventory count
- Closing documents to both attorneys
- Wire instructions confirmed by phone with the closing agent
- Funding wire sent, by the buyer's bank's cutoff
- Closing date
- Deliveries due after closing
- Price adjustment after closing, if the contract has one
- Release of any money held back in escrow
- End of the seller's transition or training period
The register
Each row holds one date. The Owner column takes one person's name; Tell lists everyone who has to hear about the date, and Decision records what gets decided when it arrives.
| Date and day | Deadline | Clause | Counting | Owner | Backup | Tell | If missed | Decision | Done |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sample rows
The contract, its clause numbers and its consequences in this example are all made up, to show how filled-in rows read. Owners appear by role here; a real register carries a person's name. The contract takes effect on Monday, October 5, 2026, and counts long periods by skipping the signing day and counting every calendar day after it.
| Date and day | Deadline | Clause | Counting | Owner | If missed | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, Oct 5 | Contract effective | 1.1 | Both signatures | Buyer | Not applicable | Start the register and send it to everyone |
| Thu, Oct 8 | Earnest money deposit received by the closing agent | 2.2 | 3 business days | Buyer | Seller may terminate | Confirm wire instructions by phone, then send |
| Tue, Oct 20 | Seller delivers diligence documents | 4.1 | 10 business days, Columbus Day skipped | Seller | Diligence period extends day for day | Ask for anything missing in writing the same day |
| Mon, Oct 26 | Internal: accountant finishes the tax return work | None | Set by the buyer | Buyer's accountant | Decision time shrinks | Raise any finding or clear the item |
| Wed, Nov 4 | Diligence period ends; notice by 5:00 p.m. seller's time | 4.3 | 30 days | Buyer | Deposit becomes nonrefundable | Proceed, renegotiate or terminate in writing |
| Thu, Nov 19 | Financing commitment | 5.1 | 45 days | Lender | Buyer loses the financing contingency | Proceed without it or terminate |
| Fri, Nov 27 | Internal: closing documents to both attorneys | None | 5 business days before closing | Buyer's attorney | Closing day turns into drafting day | Confirm the attorneys have what they need |
| Tue, Dec 1 | Internal: wire instructions confirmed by phone | None | 3 business days before closing | Buyer | Do not send the wire | Send only after every digit matches |
| Fri, Dec 4 | Closing | 8.1 | 60 days | Closing agent | Default under clause 9 | Send the wire early; call to confirm it arrived |
Three rows belong to outside parties: the seller, the lender and the closing agent. In the full register the buyer's coordinator sits in the Tell column of each and asks for status well before the date, and the buyer still sends the funding wire on closing day, after the callback in the Tuesday, December 1 row.
The document deadline depends on the counting column. If Columbus Day counted as a business day under this contract, the date would be Monday, October 19, one day earlier; the contract's definition of a business day settles which.
The weekly check
The check runs at the same time every week. The person running the deal:
- Reads every open row due in the next three weeks.
- Contacts each owner whose date falls in that window and writes down the answer and the date.
- Moves finished rows to Done, with the date and where the proof is kept.
- Looks for any date that depends on another date that moved, and updates both.
- Sends a short note to everyone in the Tell column: what was finished, what is due next and anything at risk.
- For any date at risk, decides today whether to ask for an extension.
When a date is going to slip
- If the contract gives an extension right, send the notice in the form and by the time the clause requires.
- If it gives none, ask the other side for an extension in writing, before the date.
- Get an agreed extension into an amendment, signed as the contract's amendment clause requires.
- Update the register the same day, including every date that depends on the one that moved.
- Send the updated register to everyone named in it.